I have made a bunch of games now (snake, fall down, ...), but none of them have had a start up screen, main menu etc.
How should i program my game in a smart way so that add menus?
I have read this article : http://content.gpwiki.org/index.php/SDL ... e_Overview . Is this the best way to do it? ( i dident really understand all of it, but most of it).

Can you recommend some other ways to do it?
Can you link to an easy game where i can see the source code?

/lijas

I would use GameStates. Make seperate routines based on which gamestate your in (main menu, main game loop, etc) and use a switch statement in your loop to determine which draw/logic code to actually execute. then you can hope back and forth between them as need be.

This C++ game tutorial shows a way to create Menus ( part 3 I believe ), using as Anon suggested, game states. I would recommend starting there. The tutorial uses SFML, but the concepts should apply equally well to SDL.

i like this one http://www.sdltutorials.com/sdl-app-states

Man, I had the exact problem you're describing.

I'd made a few "single state" games such as Snake and Pong, but as soon as I tried to put my own together, I was immediately stumped, because I didn't know how to move through the various game states, ie:

Splash screen -> Main menu -> Game (etc)

Anyway, http://www.sdltutorials.com/sdl-app-states will explain everything you need to know about states and how to manage them. it may look complex at first but it's actually quite simple. You have a base state class that all states inherit, and a state manager class that deals with switching between them. That way, each state of the game is split into its own class, with it's own game loop. Lovely stuff.

Btw, unless you have a lot of experience with SDL and C++, I recommend following a few of the earlier tutorials before that one, as you might find it hard to pick up. Having said that, it should be fairly straightforward to understand.

Good luck!